Globalti
Legendary Member
Feeling a bit pleased as I've just rebuilt my old Mavic Ksyrium SL rear wheel, bought from someone on here in about 2009, using a Ksyrium Elite rim and new spokes. Thanks to Mavic's policy of discontinuing spares after five years I couldn't get an SL rim but reckoned the Elite rim was the same extrusion with the scallops between the spoke beds silver rather than black. Careful study of the Mavic PDFs showed this to be the case so I ordered one from a shop in France and 20 spokes from Acycles.
Feeling better after the shoulder op and with rain all day yesterday I took the plunge and, heart in mouth, started cutting the old spokes as the nipples were rusted solid. The first few went with a frighteningly loud bang as the huge tensions came out of the wheel. Reassembly was easy once I'd got the hub orientated right because the threaded spoke holes are drilled into the rim facing very accurately in the right direction and with 10 radial spokes on the drive side but 5 pairs of pullers and pushers on the non-drive side you've a 50% chance of getting it wrong if you forget to mark the hub opposite the valve hole.
Anyway once I'd got the hub right, lacing was easy and with the nipples only finger tight the wheel already had good tension and the dish had sorted itself out thanks to the accuracy of the Mavic spoke system. I got the spoke tensions even having measured the old wheel then corrected the rim, getting it to within about 0.5mm, which is good enough.
So here's the finished job. Only die-hard Mavic fanatics would spot the mis-match though I might buy a tin of black enamel and paint those silver scallops black to match the old front wheel - what say you?
(A shout here for @Yellow Saddle, who has encouraged me to try this.)
Feeling better after the shoulder op and with rain all day yesterday I took the plunge and, heart in mouth, started cutting the old spokes as the nipples were rusted solid. The first few went with a frighteningly loud bang as the huge tensions came out of the wheel. Reassembly was easy once I'd got the hub orientated right because the threaded spoke holes are drilled into the rim facing very accurately in the right direction and with 10 radial spokes on the drive side but 5 pairs of pullers and pushers on the non-drive side you've a 50% chance of getting it wrong if you forget to mark the hub opposite the valve hole.
Anyway once I'd got the hub right, lacing was easy and with the nipples only finger tight the wheel already had good tension and the dish had sorted itself out thanks to the accuracy of the Mavic spoke system. I got the spoke tensions even having measured the old wheel then corrected the rim, getting it to within about 0.5mm, which is good enough.
So here's the finished job. Only die-hard Mavic fanatics would spot the mis-match though I might buy a tin of black enamel and paint those silver scallops black to match the old front wheel - what say you?
(A shout here for @Yellow Saddle, who has encouraged me to try this.)
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